da betano casino： Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh was in his elements on Saturday
Partab Ramchand18-Dec-1999Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh was in his elements on Saturday. With asplendid unbeaten 232, he steered his team easily towards a firstinnings lead over Bihar which sufficed for Punjab to take the title inthe Cooch Behar Trophy (under-19) tournament at the Keenan stadium inJamshedpur. Replying to Bihar’s 357, Punjab at the end of the matchwere 431 for two from 139 overs.When play resumed on the final morning, indications pointed out to akeen tussle for the all important first innings lead. But the Punjabbatsmen had things their own way. Resuming at 108 for one, ManishSharma and Yuvraj Singh batted comfortably right through themorning. Manish played the sheet anchor role while the left handedYuvraj was the more aggressive partner.At lunch the match had virtually been decided with Punjab comfortablyperched on 257 for one. Shortly after the interval, the stand wasfinally broken but by then the second wicket partnership had added 207runs off 61.4 overs. Manish was caught by Hashmi off Yadav for 95. Hebatted 5-1/2 hours, faced 292 balls and hit 16 fours.There was no respite for the beleaguered Bihar bowlers even after thedeparture of Manish. For V Mahajan joined Yuvraj and the two settleddown nicely for a long third wicket association which ultimatelyrealised an unbroken 164 runs off 48 overs. Yuvraj remained thedominant partner during this stand too and when stumps were finallydrawn, he had faced 294 balls and hit 26 fours and two sixes. While hereached his first hundred off 138 balls, Yuvraj surged to 200 offanother 111 balls. Mahajan, when the match ended, was unbeaten with59. He faced 166 balls and hit eight fours.